Tivoli Invaliid - Retrograd - track by track, 1/15
Liner notes from the album cover
Track-by-track: "Tivoli Invaliid"
"Tivoli Invaliid" is the opening track on “Retrograd” and one of the first tunes we started playing. It quickly became a signature track in our early days. Despite its oompah feel when we perform it, the song was actually inspired by surf-rock bands like the Finnish group Laika & the Cosmonauts and the American band Man or Astro-Man? - artists I was drawing inspiration from at the time.
The tune is relatively simple and built around three parts: A, B, and C.
Parts A and B share a simple chord sequence that switches between the tonic minor and the dominant:
In Part A: B minor (Bm) and F#7.
In Part B: A minor (Am) and E7.
Part C serves as a small exposition and development, moving into D major for eight bars with the following chord progression:
D / F# minor / B minor / G - A / D / F# / B minor / F#.
The intro is essentially the A part with a different theme. After Part C, the middle section returns to the A part but features a chromatic run:
It descends from a high F#6 down to A#3 and then climbs back up to hit the F#6 again.
This time, the main theme is played on the violin instead of the clarinet as earlier in the piece.
We first recorded "Tivoli Invaliid" on our very first demo in 2002:
…then again on the EP "Tivoli Invaliid" in 2003:
and finally captured it for the "Retrograd" album. With each recording, the tempo seemed to increase a bit, ultimately reaching around 170 BPM.
For the "Retrograd" version, I wanted to infuse it with more of a circus atmosphere, so we added a brass section to amplify the accelerando part. It also features a small intro that opens the whole album—an out-of-tune music box introducing the theme. Rune had an old, broken music box that he distressed even more to get that scratchy sound, which kicks off the entire track.
Play it yourself:
If you're inspired to start an Afenginn "Tivoli Invaliid" tribute band or simply want to play it yourself, here are some sheet music to get you started:
